Combination of a textile spinning frame or the like and a mechanism for determining the misalignment and to aid in the centering of a spindle therein



BLEY, JR.. ETAL 3,381,216

SPINNlNG FRAME OR THE LIKE AND NING THE MISALIC'NMENT AND TO F A SFINDLE THEREIN 10, 1965 O t mo. I1 I S s unnE Em T EEH DC? W. A. L. F A TEXTI FOR THE OMN w AI NBA C 8 N E 6 B 9M 0 11 9 0 3 l n M w w a w A LE AU x w J M United States Patent 3,381,216 COMBINATION OF A TEXTILE SPINNING FRAME OR THE LIKE AND A MECHANISM FOR DETER- MINING THE MISALIGNMENT AND TO AID IN THE CENTERIN G OF A SPINDLE THEREIN William A. L. Sibley, Jr., Greenville, S.C., and Robert F. McNab, In, Greensboro, N.C., assignors to J. 1. Stevens & Co., Inc., a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 10, 1965, Ser, No. 486,465 Claims. (Cl. 324-34) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The combination of a textile spinning frame or the like and a mechanism for determining the misalignment and to aid in the centering and plumbing of a spindle therein comprising a rotatable spindle, a spinning ring, means removably attached to the spinning ring to produce a plurality of magnetic fields equally spaced around the spindle, means attached to the spindle to rotate therewith and to cause to be induced a cycle of electric current in each of the magnetic fields for each rotation of the spindle which is directly related to the nearness of the rotating means to each of the magnetic fields, and means for reading the cycles of electric current to determine the misalignment of the spindle.

This invention relates to a mechanism for determining the misalignment of a spindle in a textile spinning frame or the like and more particularly to aid in the centering or plumbing of a spindle in a textile spinning frame or the like.

Heretofore, spindle centering or plumbing in a textile spinning frame or the like has been performed by an operator through viewing of a spindle in a top position of the spinning ring and a bottom position of the spinning ring with the aid of a plug, the outside diameter of which is slightly less than the inside diameter of the ring. If the spindle appears to be misaligned through either of these visual inspections, the operator would manually center the spindle within the spinning ring to the best of his judgment.

It is important that the spindle be centered within the spinning ring from both a gOod running standpoint, i.e. minimize end breakage, and to obtain a desired package of yarn during the spinning process. The problem of misalignment of the spindle becomes more acute in high speed spinning operations and the trend in the textile industry at present is definitely toward more and more high speed operations. Also, certain designs of textile spinning frames or the like have rendered the above visual inspection procedure of aligning a textile spindle virtually impossible due to portions of the machine obstructing an operators view of the spindle Within the spinning ring.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a mechanism for determining the misalignment of a spindle in a textile spinning frame or the like to eliminate the necessity of a visual inspection and to aid in more accurately and precisely aligning or centering the spindle Within the spinning ring.

It has been found by this invention, that the above object may be accomplished by providing a mechanism having means adapted to be attached to the spinning ring including a plurality of permanent magnets having surrounding encasing coils to produce a plurality of magnetic fields equally spaced around the spindle, means adapted to be attached to the spindle to rotate therewith and to cause to be induced a cycle of electric current in each of the encasing coils for each rotation of the spindle which is directly related to the nearness of the rotating means to each of the encasing coils and means for reading the cycles of electric current to determine the misalignment of the spindle, e.g., if the readings of electric current are equal, then the spindle is centered within the spinning ring, or if one or more of the readings of the current is not equal to the other readings, then the spindle is out of alignment and can be manually aligned until the readings are equal.

Some of the objects and advantages of the invention having been stated, other objects and advantages will appear as the description proceeds when taken into conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view, partly in section, of a portion of a spinning frame illustrating a rotatable spindle, a spinning ring, and the means of this invention by which a cycle of current is caused to be induced in a coil surrounding a permanent magnet when the means is rotating on the spindle;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view illustrating the means of this invention for attachment to the spinning ring to produce a plurality of magnetic fields equally spaced around the spindle and the means for reading the cycles of electric current;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective View of the means of this invention for attachment to the spinning ring, as illustrated in FIGURE 2, and further illustrating spring steel fingers for attachment thereof to the spinning ring;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged elevational view, partly in section, of the spindle and spinning ring illustrated in FIGURE 1 and showing the means of FIGURE 3 attached to the spinning ring and to the spindle;

FIGURE 5 is a cross sectional view taken substantially along the line 5-5 of FIGURE 4; and

FIGURE 6 is a schematic wiring diagram of the mechanisms illustrated in FIGURE 2.

Referring now to the drawings, a portion of a textile spinning frame or the like is illustrated in FIGURE 1 and includes a rotatable spindle 10 having the usual whorl 11 to receive a driving tape 12 for rotating the spindle 10. The spindle 10 is rotatably received in the usual bolster casing 13 which is mounted in an. aperture in a spindle or base rail 14 and is held in position thereon by a nut 15 tightened against the bottom of the spindle rail 14 on the threaded portion of the bolster casing 13 so that the spindle rail 14 will be sandwiched between a flange on the upper end of the bolster casing 13 and the nut 15.

The portion of the textile spinning frame illustrated in FIGURE 1 further includes a spinning ring 20 disposed around the spindle 10 and adapted to move longitudinally with respect to the spindle 10, in the direction of the arrow shown in FIGURE 1, for purposes well understood by those with ordinary skill in the art.

It is desirable to have the spindle 10 centered within the spinning ring 20 to accomplish the desired spinning action, for reasons well known by those with ordinary skill in the art. As set forth above, this has been heretofore performed by visually inspecting the position of the spindle within the spinning ring at a bottom position of the spinning ring at the bottom of the spindle, as shown in FIGURE 1, and at a top position of the spinning ring at the top of the spindle, not shown.

The mechanism of this invention for determining the misalignment and to aid in centering of the spindle 10 within the spinning ring 20 comprises a hollow measuring head, generally indicated at 30, which may be constructed of any suitable material and which includes three matched permanent magnets 31 having urrounding, encasing coils 31a equally spaced around the measuring head 30 and from the center thereof so that the magnets 31 will produce three magnetic fields equally spaced around the measuring head 30.

Patented Apr. 30, 1968 p ning ring 20, but slightly larger. All of the spring fingers 32 are of substantially equal resiliency so that the measuring head 30 may be attached to the spinning ring and frictionally held thereon by the spring fingers 32 inserted within the spinning ring 20. The equal resiliency of each of the spring fingers 32 will center the measuring head relative to the spinning ring 20 so that the magnetic field produced by the magnets 31 will be equally spaced around the spinning ring 20 and around the desired axis of rotation of the spindle 10.

The mechanism of this invention further includes a pair of hollow sleeves 40 constructed of a non-ferrous material and having a strip of ferrous, magnetic material 41 extending therethrough in the longitudinal direction on the outer surface thereof. The hollow sleeves 40 are slightly tapered internally and one of the sleeves has an internal circumference conforming substantially to the size of the spindle 10 at the bottom thereof so that the sleeve 40 may be placed on the spindle 10 to frictionally engage the spindle 10 at a bottom position thereon for rotation therewith, as may be seen in FIGURE 1. The other sleeve 40 has a smaller internal circumference conforming substantially to the top of the spindle 10 for frictionally engaging the spindle 10 at a top position thereon to rotate therewith, as may be seen in dotted lines in FIGURE 1.

The spinning ring with the measuring head positioned thereon may be moved from a bottom position in which the measuring head 30 will surround the first sleeve to a top position where the measuring head 30 will surround the second sleeve 40. In either of these positions, rotation of the sleeve 40 on the spindle 10 with the ferrous, magnetic strip 41 therein will cause a cycle of electric current to be induced in each of the encasing coils 31a. This electric current will be directly related to the nearness of the sleeve 40 to each of the encasing coils 31a. The current will be equal in each coil 31a if the spindle 10 is centered within the spinning ring 20 and the measuring head 30.

The mechanism of this invention further includes three ammeters contained within a single housing 51, each of which is electrically connected to a separate encasing coil 31a, as set forth below. Therefore, readings of the electric current induced in the encasing coils 31a may be read on the separate ammeters 50 to determine whether or not the spindle 10 is centered within the measuring head 30 and the spinning ring 20. For example, if the readings of electric current are equal, then the spindle is centered within the spinning ring. However, if one or more of the readings of the current is not equal to the other readings, the spindle is out of alignment and can be manually aligned until the readings are equal.

This manual alignment may be performed by loosening the nut 15 and manually moving the spindle 10 within the spindle rail 14 until the readings on the ammeters 50 are equal, at which time the nut 15 will again be tightened on the spindle or base rail 14 to secure the spindle 10 in place.

As shown in the schematic wiring diagram of FIGURE 6, each of the coils 31a is connected by lines 52 to ground and by lines 56 to a male plug 57 which is inserted into a female plug 58 on the casing 51 for the ammeters 50, as shown in FIGURE 2. The female plug 58 has lines 53 leading therefrom to resistors 60. Lines 54 then lead from resistors 60 to separate variable resistors 61 and then to lines 59 and diodes '62 to the ammeters 50 and then to ground. Separate lines 63 are used to connect each line 59a through capacitors 64 to ground. To complete the electric circuit, a line 65 leads from ground to the female plug 58 and connects through the male plug 57 to another line 66 leading to ground. The variable resistors 61 are utilized to equalize the ammet rs 50 to insure that equal readings are obtained thereon when equal electrical currents are induced within coils 31a.

The ammeters 50 are calibrated into microamperes from 0-100 and each microampere represents generally 0.001 of an inch at a given spindle speed between the sleeve 40 and the magnetic coils 31 so that the exact amount of misalignment of the spindle 10 may be determined.

Thus it may be seen, that a mechanism is provided for measuring the misalignment of a spindle in a textile spinning frame or the like to eliminate the necessity of a visual inspection and to provide an aid in very accurately and precisely aligning or centering the spindle within the spinning ring.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention and, although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination of a textile spinning frame or the like and means for determining the misalignment and to aid in the centering and plumbing of a spindle on the spinning frame, the combination comprising:

(a) a textile spinning frame;

(b) a rotating spindle on said frame adapted for use in spinning textile yarns;

(c) a spinning ring on said frame disposed around said spindle and adapted to move longitudinally with respect to said spindle for use in spinning textile yarns;

(d) means removably attached to said spinning ring including a plurality of permanent magnets having surrounding encasing coils, said magnets producing a plurality of magnetic fields equally spaced around said spindle;

'(e) means removably attached to said spindle to rotate therewith and to cause to be induced a cycle of electric current in each of said encasing coils for each rotation of said spindle which is directly related to the nearness of said rotating means to each of said encasing coils; and

(f) means for reading the cycles of electric current to determine the misalignment of said spindle and to aid in centering or plumbing thereof.

2. The combination, as set forth in claim 1, in which said means for producing a plurality of magnetic fields comprises a hollow measuring head removably attached within said spinning ring around said spindle and having at least three permanent magnets having surrounding encasing coils equally spaced around said spindle and from the desired axis of rotation of said spindle, said measuring head further including a plurality of spring steel fingers equally spaced therearound and of substantially equal resilience and removably inserted within said spinning ring to frictionally secure and center said measuring head to said spinning ring and around the desired axis of rotation of said spindle.

3. The combination, as set forth in claim 1, in which said means for inducing a cycle of electric current in each of said encasing coils comprises a hollow sleeve constructed of non-ferrous material and having a strip of ferrous, magnetic material thereon and adapted to be frictionally attached around said spindle.

4. The combination, as set forth in claim 1, in which said means for reading the electric current comprises ammeters connected to each of said encasing coils.

5. The combination of a textile spinning frame or the like and means for determining the misalignment and to aid in the centering of a spindle on the spinning frame, the combination comprising:

(a) a textile spinning frame;

(b) a rotatable spindle on said frame adapted for use in spinning textile yarns;

(c) a spinning ring on said frame disposed around attached around said spindle at a bottom position said spindle and adapted to move longitudinally with respect to said spindle and adapted to be used in spinning textile yarns;

thereon and at a top position thereon to rotate therewith to cause to be induced a cycle of electric current in each of said encasing coils for each rotation of (d) a hollow measuring head having a plurality of 5 said spindle which is directly related to the nearness spring steel fingers equally spaced therearound and of of said sleeves to each of said encasing coils; and substantially equal resilience and removably inserted (i) an ammeter connected to each of said encasing within said spinning ring to frictionally secure and coils for reading the cycles of electric current incenter said measuring head to said spinning ring duced therein to determine the misalignment of said and around the desired axis of rotation of said 10 spindle at each of the positions of said sleeves.

spindle and having at least three permanent magnets having surrounding encasing coils equally spaced around said spindle and from the desired axis of rotation of said spindle for producing at least three References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS magnetic fields equally spaced around said spindle, 15 2,585,887 2/1952 Woodward 285-319 said spinning ring and said measuring head being 2,805,677 9/1957 Baird 32434 adapted to be moved from a bottom position around 3,176,241 3/ 1965 Hogan et a1 324- 34- said spindle to a top position around said spindle; 3,231,813 1/ 1966 Vanator 32434 (e) a pair of hollow sleeves constructed of non-ferq rous material and having a strip of ferrous, mag- 20 RUDOLPH ROLINEC Exammer' netic material thereon and adapted to be frictionally R, J, CORCORAN, AssistantExaminer. 

